And then there were eight
Well, what do you know? The majority of astronomers agreed with me. Pluto has been demoted. Of course, not everybody is happy with this development. My daughter, in fact, laments the loss of the ninth planet and is
singing the blues over it. Well, not actually the blues, but you get the idea. Of course, it all makes me wonder. Just who are these astronomers who can just casually toss out a planet? Who elected them? Why didn't I get a voter's pamphlet? Shouldn't this be like countries recognizing other countries, where each planet decides if they recognize the other or not? Anyway, it's nice to have such trivialities to occupy me.
Throw the bum out
Man, what a week. I took the laptop into the shop on Tuesday to try to shed some light on my erratic Airport card. The Mac Guy had the thing until Saturday but he still couldn't find any problem. And all week I've been limited to checking e-mail at public access locales. Very frustrating, especially since I've been bursting to offer my opinions on that story that's been burning up the news wires this past week:
I really think that astronomers should go with the strict classification for planets and downgrade Pluto, rather than add from 3 to 50-some new planets.
Um, that's all....
No pain, no gain
Ugh, I'm in pain today. I made myself useful yesterday, cutting up some logs that my mother-in-law had in her back yard. Back in June she had a dead tree in her front yard and the tree cutters she used cut everything into nice two foot lengths. The problem was, they didn't bother cutting any widths, so she had about a dozen chunks of trunk that wouldn't fit into her fireplace. (Assuming she could even carry them inside.) Since the tree dudes never really responded to our calls, I said, "No problem, I'll just rent a chainsaw and cut those suckers down to size." Well, despite my daughters' worries that I would cut myself, I did that yesterday. I didn't realize that it would be as much work as it was. First off, some of those chunks were rather thick. Secondly, handling the chainsaw required some effort. I thought I was in good shape, what with all the walking and hiking we've done this past year. The thing is, it didn't do much for my arms. I started feeling weary after the first hour. Fortunately I have learned a few things from my Dad. He's smart enough to take a break now and then rather than to push on through with a job. By the end of the afternoon I finished the job and the most severe injury I suffered was a blister on my left palm. Oh, and the morning after aches. Surprisingly enough, my arms feel fine. Instead it's my head and right hip that are aching. Oh, well. At least I can now say I've done something more this summer than sitting around my mother-in-law's house and raiding her cookie jar.
Winding down
There's a definite change in the air. We've accomplished most of our major goals for this summer. The folks have been here and gone. The painting's all done. We still have some visiting to do, a shopping trip and a (ugh) dental appointment, but there's a definite lack of pressure. There are few all-day events left on the schedule. What's left is a bunch of puttering. I even took some time the other day to sort through a few folders on my hard drive--a task I have neglected all year. It's, I don't know, odd, I guess. I can't recall the last time life was this leisurely. Maybe I had a day or two the the last time I visited Illinois. Part of me feels like I should try to
do something. Of course, the best thing to do is probably to enjoy the next couple of weeks stateside and get ready to head back to China. That or try to think up something interesting to blog about.
Buy it!
Well, it's August and I still haven't had any reverse culture shock moments to share with the world. The closest i've noticed recently is the advertising. A few months back, as I was walking down the street, surrounded by signs I could not read, I told myself that it would be nice to be literate again when I returned to the States. Well, I've returned and am now literate once again. You know what? When it comes to walking down the street, literacy is overrated. (Actually, now that I'm in America, I'm driving down the street again, but that's another post.) I'm surrounded by all sorts of messages, but most of them are just junk. Buy this! Believe that! Go here! Blah, blah, blah. Maybe I had it good, back in China. I could just appreciate the mysterious characters and not be troubled by the inanities of the latest fruit drink or housing development. Of course, once I get to the public library and see all the books I can read, the ads seem like a small price to pay for being literate...
Stadium potatoes
:-p
What a week! All of my family (with the exception of my brother-in-law) came to town to visit us last week, since we couldn't head to Chicago. It was a great time, but we were so busy I had no chance to write. Even Sunday, after they had all left, all I could do was nap.
But I'm not writing about that. What I want to write about is the baseball game we went to last night. The wife and her sister are great baseball fans, having grown up in a minor league town in an era when free, sponsored tickets were abundant. Their faithful attendance has been reduced in these adult years. They usually only have time to take in only two games a season nowadays. This year it'll probably only be one--the one we attended last night. The
Tacoma Rainiers vs. some dudes from Oklahoma.
Normally we don't go to Tacoma for ball games. Our home team is the
Everett Aquasox. The caliber of baseball isn't as good, but single A baseball is cheaper than AAA Tacoma. (not to mention those millionaires in Seattle) It's more fun, too. I'm not a big baseball fan, so for me the between inning promotions are an essential part of the night out. Everett has lots of promotions--people like you or me tossing beanbags or racing shopping carts. It's kind of stupid, but kind of fun. Last night in Tacoma, they had promotions, too. However, nobody
did anything. You had some gal on the field, speaking over the loudspeaker, saying that so-and-so had just one an upgrade to some company's box seat. Hoo-hah. I'm sure it was very exciting for the winners and I'm happy for them and all that, but to see them do nothing but sit there was, well, boring. I mean, can't I even have the satisfaction of seeing them
earn their prize, by making fools of themselves? What's the use of paying horribly inflated concession prices if we're not going to be entertained? No wonder they took baseball out of the Olympics.
